There has been known a tandem-type color laser printer as an electrophotographic type image forming device. This type of laser printer commonly includes a process unit disposed inside a main casing. The process unit includes a plurality of image forming units, each of which includes a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a charger, and the like.
In one such image-forming device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent-Application Publication No. 2003-107838, developing units and other components in the image-forming units can be replaced by opening a cover provided on the front surface of the main casing and pulling the process unit out of the main casing through an opening formed in the front side thereof. This type of image-forming device may also include a conveying belt for conveying a recording medium, such as paper, below the process unit and past each of the image-forming units in the process unit, and a feeding unit disposed to the front of the conveying belt near the lower edge of the opening in the front of the main casing for supplying paper fed from a paper tray onto the top surface of the conveying belt. As one example, the feeding unit may include a pair of guide parts disposed one on either side of a paper-conveying path and having opposing arc-shaped surfaces, and a pair of conveying rollers for pinching and conveying the paper.
With this construction, it is effective to configure the feeding unit so that a portion of the feeding unit, such as one of the guide parts, one of the conveying rollers, and the like, can be moved relative to the opposing guide part and the opposing conveying roller in order to temporarily open a portion of the paper-conveying path to facilitate the resolution of paper jams. However, it is necessary to prevent a conflict between the movable portion of the feeding unit and the process unit when the process unit is removed. Therefore, it is necessary to provide clearance for removing the process unit from the main casing, which may lead to an increased overall size of the image-forming device.
Further, in an image-forming device, paper is interposed between a feeding roller and a separating pad to ensure that the paper is separated and fed one sheet at a time. The friction generated with the separating pad tends to deposit paper dust and the like on the paper. If these deposits become mixed with the toner and deposited in the image formed on the paper, the quality of the formed images will degrade.
Therefore, an image-forming device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent-Application Publication No. 2003-81477 provides an electrically charged deposition-removing roller on the paper-conveying path. The deposition-removing roller rotates and attracts matter deposited on the paper. Subsequently, a scraping member formed of sponge or the like and disposed in contact with the deposition-removing roller scrapes the deposited matter off the deposition-removing roller. The deposited matter scraped off by the scraping member is collected in a deposition-collecting vessel.
With this type of image-forming device, it is necessary to temporarily open a cover on the main casing when paper becomes jammed during an image-forming operation in order to resolve the paper jam. However, with the existence of the deposition-removing roller in the main casing, there is potential for the deposition-removing roller to interfere with the operation for resolving paper jams.